1 Now then, Jesus, six days before the Passover, arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, the man whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they prepared a feast for him there. Martha was serving food and drink, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. 3 Mary, therefore, taking a whole pint of perfumed oil—pure nard, worth a lot of money—anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil.

4 Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples—the one who would soon betray him—said, 5 “This perfumed oil was worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” 6 (He said this not because the poor were of any concern to him, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of this—the bag that held the money for all of them— and would at times help himself to the money in it.)

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus said to him. “It was for the day of preparation for my burial that she saved this oil. 8 The poor ᵖyou have with you, you see, all the time. Me, however, ᵖyou have here with you only a short while.”

9 Now then, when the large crowd of Jews+ found out that Jesus was in Bethany, they went there, not only because of Jesus, but in order to see, too, Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to have Lazarus himself killed, too, 11 since he was the reason why so many of the people were deserting them and putting their faith in Jesus.

12 The next day, the large crowd that had come for the festival, on hearing that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, 13 took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “ ‘Save us, Messiah! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD,’+ the King of Israel!”

14 Having found a young donkey, Jesus sat down on it. Just as it is written:

17 So, the crowd that had been with Jesus when he summoned Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead were telling people about what they had seen and heard. 18 That was why the crowd went out to meet him, because they had heard about this miraculous sign that he had done. 19 The Pharisees, therefore, said to one another, “We’re obviously getting nowhere. Look! The whole world is following him!”

20 Now there were some God-fearing Gentiles+ among those who had come up to Jerusalem to worship at the festival. 21 So they came up to Philip (who was from the town of Bethsaida in Galilee) with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew, and the two of them went and told Jesus.

23 Jesus, then, answered with some very weighty things: “The time has come for the Son of Man to be clothed and exalted in glory. 24 Amen, amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: Unless a grain of wheat, by being sown into the ground, “dies,” as it were, it remains only a single seed. If it dies, however, then it produces what? A large harvest. 25 If someone is unwilling to let go of his life, he will surely lose it. If someone is prepared to give up his life in this world, however, it is unto life in the age to come that he will keep it. 26 If someone wants to serve me, he must with me continue on as a disciple, so that wherever I am, at that same place my servant, too, himself will be. If someone serves me, the Father will honor him.

27 “Now ‘my soul is in anguish.’+ What then should I pray? Should I pray, ‘Father, “save me”+ from this appointed time of suffering’? No, that is the very reason I came, to go through this time. 28 Father, bring glory and honor to your name!”

At that, a voice came from heaven: “I brought glory to it before, and I will do so again!”

29 The crowd that was there and that heard this, therefore, was saying, “Thunder is what it was!” Others were saying, “It is an angel that has spoken to him!”

30 “It was not for my sake that these words were spoken, but for ᵖyours,” Jesus answered. 31 “The time has come for judgment to be pronounced against this rebellious world; now the ruler of this world is as good as driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw to myself people of all kinds.” 33 (In saying this, he was hinting at the kind of death he was destined to suffer.)

34 “We have learned from the Scriptures that the Messiah will remain here forever,” the crowd answered. “So how can ˢyou say, ‘It is God’s will for the Son of Man to be lifted up?’ Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

35 “The light is going to be here with ᵖyou only a little while longer,” replied Jesus. “Walk in the light while ᵖyou still have it, so that darkness doesn’t overtake ᵖyou. If someone walks in the darkness, he doesn’t know where he is going. 36 While ᵖyou have the light, put your faith in the light, so that ᵖyou may become people of the truth, who live in the light and belong to the light.” After these things had been said by Jesus, he went away and hid himself from them.

37 Now even though Jesus had performed before their very eyes so many miraculous signs, they still refused to put their faith in him. 38 And so, according to plan, the word of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled:

42 On the other hand, there were also many, even among the leaders, who did put their faith in him, though because of the Pharisees they didn’t acknowledge it openly, lest they should from the synagogue be expelled. 43 They loved the praise and honor of mere men, you see, more than the praise and honor that come from God.

44 Now, Jesus cried out, “If someone puts his faith in me, he is actually putting it not in me, but in the one who sent me. 45 And he who sees me sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that all who put their faith in me would not remain in the darkness. 47 And if someone hears, but doesn’t obey, my words, it is not I who will condemn him. I came not to condemn the world, you see, but to save the world. 48 If a person rejects me and refuses to accept my words, he will face another judge: The very word that I spoke will itself condemn him at the last Day. 49 For it is not on my own authority that I have spoken; no, the Father who sent me has himself given me a command about what to say and what to proclaim. 50 And I know that what he has commanded leads to this: Life in the age to come. The things I speak, therefore, I speak precisely as the Father has told me.”